Putting Drain Holes in a Fire Pit

Are you tired of your fire pit looking more like a water pit? Here is a simple fix for this everyday problem.

Adding a couple drain holes will prevent your pit from collecting water and rusting your paint or the put itself or if rusting has already occurred it can prevent further damage.

Fire Pit

Drill (with bit as large as you want your hole)

Steel wool (mine had soap in it)

Steel bristle brush

Glove(s)

Hose

Drain most of the water out, leaving a little to prevent overheating the bit when drilling. You can use a cutting fluid, but I just used the water because it is already there. Just make sure to dry your tools when done.

Eyeball about the middle and drill a hole or two.

Let the rest of the water drain out.

I used a soap filled steel wool pad first. Then I used a steel wire brush to scrub off some of the chunkier bits of rust and gunk.

Spray the pit out with the hose and you are done.

NOTE: You can scrub further to get more of the rust off and finish with a high heat paint made for grills. I skipped this step as my fire pit is stainless steel under the metallic paint.It is actually the metallic paint that is rusting. You can see a little of the stainless steel shining through. I plan to keep using mine and letting the paint burn off over time.